


Slither

by Yeaka RC (yeaka)



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-16
Updated: 2014-05-16
Packaged: 2018-01-25 09:40:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1644140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yeaka/pseuds/Yeaka%20RC
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chad helps Marmelrisanistralice see some of the land. (Based on Sand in the Observatory.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Slither

**Author's Note:**

  * For [queensusan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/queensusan/gifts).



> A/N: Ficlet for my novel, [Sand in the Observatory](http://yeaka.weebly.com/sandintheobservatory.html). Requested by Queensusan.

“No,” she repeats on his third guess, batting her eyelashes prettily. Normally, Chad would never, _ever_ ask a woman her age, but normal rules need not apply where mermaids are concerned, and Marmel doesn’t even seem capable of taking offensive. She just tilts her head to the side and fiddles with the little golden ringlets of her hair, her luminous yellow eyes staring bulbously up at him. Chad scratches his chin, noting it might be time for another shave soon.

“Three hundred?” he tries, genuinely lost. He’s ascertained that she’s somewhere between one and the young side of infinity, and that’s about it.

Marmel giggles raucously and throws her head back far enough to sink down into the water. She reemerges a second later, tossing her hair aside, and thousands of water droplets splatter Chad’s bare chest, welcome in the sweltering heat of the sun. Seated on the rocky peninsula, he leans back while she finishes shaking herself out. Then she wades closer, her glittering tail surfacing like something out of a storybook.

Chad sighs and shrugs, finally deciding, “I give up.” Jabbing his thumb in his own direction, he flashes a smile and asks, “How old do you think I am?”

“Sixty,” she chirps randomly, to which Chad jerks back and splutters.

“That’s more than double!” He strokes his own cheek just to be sure—last time he checked, he didn’t look _anything_ near sixty. But then, there’s not exactly an abundance of mirrors on the island. He leans over to peer at his own reflection in the clear water, wondering hopefully if mermen go through a very different aging process. To a mermaid, sixty’s probably pretty young. 

He’s still staring at himself when Marmel turns to the shoreline, and she emits a high-pitched squealing noise that makes his head jerk up. He follows her line of sight to where the trees and plants taper off into the yellow-white sand, a small creature hopping along the fading grass. Marmel makes another whining sound and pulls her bluish arms from the water, flailing at the shore. Chad’s not exactly sure how close mermaids can get, but clearly, Marmel wants to try.

Chad, puffing up automatically at the chance to play knight-in-shining armour, asks, “Want me to carry you there?”

Marmel’s face whips around so fast that her flying hair splashes him all over again. Chad shakes it out while Marmel practically orders, ever-wide eyes going impossibly wider, “Yes, yes! Carry me!” Her flailing arms reach for him instead, clawing high at the air.

Grinning deeply, Chad braces his knees against the rock. He’s not completely sure exactly how he’s going to do this, but he’s felt her before, and she shouldn’t be too heavy. Not for a trained ex-soldier, anyway. He takes her by the shoulder, then dips his other hand into the water, not entirely sure what he’s searching for. But Marmel figures it out, and she leaps at him suddenly, wrapping her arms so fiercely around his neck that for a moment, he’s sure he’s going to be pulled under—don’t sailors always talk about getting drowned by mermaids?

But Chad catches himself in time and uses the leverage to get his arm around her small waist, hiking her up. Her long tail darts around him, soaking right through his thin pants, but considering she’s not wearing a scrap of clothing, he’s not exactly worried. It takes him a minute to steady out, pulling her safely onto the peninsula, and her tail flicks excitedly while she points at the shore again, chirping, “Go, go!”

Never one to argue with a lady (well, except his mother saying to be nice to Ru), he grunts, “Yes, Ma’am.” And then he totters to his feet, surprised at just how heavy she actually is. Heavier than Cass, even. She feels sort of scaly and oddly slick and difficult to hold onto, but she holds onto him back, and that helps. It’s slow going back down the peninsula; he’s extra careful not to slip, half because he doesn’t want to drop and hurt her, and half because he doesn’t want to die of embarrassment. 

By the time they get to the shore, the rabbit—and now that they’re closer, that’s clearly what it is—is idly nibbling the grass, settled into place. Chad doubts Marmel can move effectively over the sand, so he keeps carrying her, still cautious even though the sand is soft, because he doesn’t want to spook the rabbit and send it running. He’s not the best with animals, and he vaguely wishes Cass were here—Cass would calm it and keep it in place for Marmel’s amusement. (Unless she wants to eat it, of course, which maybe she does—what do mermaids eat, anyway? Men?) But then, of course, Dov would be here too, and that would cramp Chad’s style, so he settles for walking slow. 

The rabbit does tense up when they start to get close, and its head twitches towards them, tiny black eyes beady and frightened. Chad stops walking, sure it’s going to bolt, but Marmel makes a humming noise and quickly transitions into a lilting song that makes Chad sleepy and the rabbit return to eating. Starting to totter again, Chad creeps closer.

Half a meter away, he sinks down to his knees, offering Marmel room to slip off, but she stays in his lap. She reaches for the rabbit, song fading, and she giggles delightedly when it stays still and lets her pet it. The translucent webs between her fingers look particularly strange, stretched over the rabbit’s soft, brown fur, but she seems to like the feel of it. She strokes it a few times before falling to the sand, onto her back, her tail still elegantly wrapped around Chad’s waist. Her hair tumbles beautifully around her head, fanning out, and she picks the rabbit right up. Its little feet kick once, then stop, then twitch, then give in as she cuddles it close to her. She places it down on her chest, between the mounds of her heavy breasts, and the rabbit sniffs at her chin while she holds it and croons and makes happy chirping noises. Chad wonders vaguely if she’s ever touched a rabbit before, if she’s ever been out of the water. It’s a stunning thing to watch, really: her alien beauty interacting with a new kind of nature. Part of him is just settled back to passively enjoy it, and the rest of him is poised and ready to snatch the rabbit away should she try to bite its head off—Cass would never forgive him. 

Fortunately, Marmel seems content just petting and crooning at it. The rabbit doesn’t seem to mind, and it’s tall ears perk up every time she makes a new noise. She kisses it on the nose and it starts to lick at her face—she turns away and erupts in giggles. 

A moment later, it scrambles off of her, scurrying over her shoulder and back into the trees. Marmel turns onto her side, head tilted back to peer at it, and Chad tells her apologetically, “I probably couldn’t catch up to it.” She looks back at him, blinking her long, glossy lashes.

She mumbles instead, “Sex now,” and lunges up at him so hard that she knocks him backwards into the sand, where they go rolling down the bank to the lapping water.


End file.
